The view taken in this Lecture I hold to be important, not only in its practical and spiritual bearings, on which I chiefly dwell, but also in relation to some of the scientific questions which have been supposed to be here involved. It lifts, as I think, the divine record out of and above these human entanglements, and presents it, apart from all discoveries of successive ages, in the broad and general aspect which it was designed from the first and all along to wear, as unfolding the Creator's mind in the orderly subordination of the several parts of his creation to one another, with special reference to his intended dealings with the race of man. On this account I ask attention to what otherwise might appear to somo to be an irrelevant metaphysical conceit.<br><br>It is proposed, then, to inquire what is implied in our really believing, as a matter of revelation, the fact of the creation. This may seem a very needless inquiry, in reference to a fact so easily understood. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." "The worlds were framed by the word of God." Can any thing be easier than to comprehend and believe this great truth thus clearly revealed? Who can be at a loss to know what is meant by believing it?